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U.S. President Barack Obama canceled his trip to Australia and Indonesia
from June 13 as he attempts to deal with an oil leak in the Gulf of
Mexico and the international relations imbroglio surrounding the
Israeli-Turkish flotilla incident. The cancellation shows Australia and
Indonesia are low among Obama's priorities and demonstrates the
difficulty the administration is having in carrying out plans for a
diplomatic re-engagement with Southeast Asia.

Analysis

A spokesman for U.S. President Barack Obama said his trip to Australia
and Indonesia, set to begin June 13, had been canceled, possibly to be
rescheduled for November, citing the president's busy schedule,
including the continuing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The trip had
been conceived as a means of adding momentum to Obama's drive to expand
America's diplomatic outreach, notably by improving ties with the Muslim
world and re-engaging Southeast Asia.

Indonesia, a country where Obama spent time as a child, was the logical
connection of these two policies: It is a Cold War-era American ally,
the home base of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the
largest Muslim country in the world with a population of about 226
million, around 195 million of whom are Muslims. During his Indonesia
visit, Obama was expected to give momentum to U.S.-Indonesian economic
cooperation, including the U.S. hope that Indonesia would become a
bigger market for U.S. exports, as well as security cooperation, with
the possibility of furthering U.S. training and support for Indonesian
counterterrorism units. Obama's agenda in Australia was to maintain the
two countries' alliance and show support for Australia's participation
in military operations in Afghanistan.

However, the trip has proved inconvenient and, at least in the Indonesia
leg, fraught with security concerns. Originally planned in March, it was
postponed to June as Obama fought to push through health care reform in
the U.S. Congress and as security fears arose over the revelation of an
al Qaeda-linked jihadist cell in Aceh, northern Sumatra, which had
allegedly planned to stage an attack on Obama during his visit. Whether
the group and others like it are capable of such an attack is
questionable, but after an extensive crackdown on the cell, Indonesia's
counterterrorism head said on June 3 that some members remained on the
loose and could pose a threat to Obama during the visit - though he also
said he had no intelligence of a specific threat.

As the rescheduled June date approached, however, life did not get
simpler for Obama. Most importantly, security concerns about traveling
to Indonesia have increased following the Israeli raid of a flotilla
delivering aid from Turkey to Gaza that led to civilian deaths and has
outraged Muslims worldwide. Indonesia has a history of demonstrations
over the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The flotilla incident has caused
pro-Palestinian protests to once again flare up across Indonesia. The
main protests have been centered around Jakarta, with smaller
demonstrations in Bandung, Surabaya, Surakarta, Makassar, Pamekasan,
Solo city and Batam. The protests have ranged from 400 to 2,000
participants and have been staged around the U.S. Embassy, U.N.
buildings, and recently, the Welcome Monument in Jakarta. The hardline
Muslim group Hizbut Tahririn (HT) has orchestrated the majority of the
protests by organizing the local population, Muslim groups and
university students. For Obama, a trip to Jakarta that could face major
protests - and security threats - would not have been well-timed.

The flotilla incident has also complicated Washington's struggle to push
sanctions on Iran through the U.N. Security Council, as it has removed
the impetus for punishing Iran at a time when the region - and most of
the international community - is angry with Israel, the country most
concerned about Iran's nuclear program. And that doesn't include Obama's
continuing domestic headaches, namely mounting criticism over the Gulf
oil spill, continued economic troubles and upcoming midterm elections in
the U.S. Congress.

All these factors make a trip to Australia and Indonesia seem not worth
the trouble, since they would bring very few concrete benefits to Obama
but pose security threats and distract from more pressing affairs.
Domestically, Obama could even be seen as indulging in speechifying and
self-promotion, reminiscent of his campaign and election honeymoon,
rather than handling critical affairs.

Thus, the cancellation highlights that Australia and Indonesia are low
among Obama's priorities, and more broadly that the administration is
having difficulty carrying out its plans to re-engage with Southeast
Asia. Of course, this is not the first time American plans for the
region have been interrupted by matters of greater urgency. While U.S.
policymakers see the economic opportunity presented by Southeast Asia's
rapid growth and fear that neglecting the region will give China free
rein to expand its influence, the United States has not found the time
or energy to devote to concretely upgrading its ties with the region.

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